Tale of the Teachers
by King-Mac-11
Summary: A group of small stories about the Beacon academy staff and the hard work they do to keep the school in one piece. (Really, it's a series of small stories about the teachers. For now, it's T. However, as I left myself open to requests, that is possible to change. Also, there are a few OCs, but they're there to round out the roster of the teaching staff.) Enjoy.
1. Teachers Lounge

"And that's when I grabbed the Beowolf by the neck. Then I…" Professor Peter Port was often called long-winded when he told these stories. He preferred to say he was ' _weaving a powerful and intricate quilt of inspiration through his words of wisdom_.' No one else saw it that way. Thankfully, he wasn't torturing the students at this time.

No. This time, he was torturing his fellow teachers. Sitting around the table were three other members of the Beacon faculty, all of whom were playing a game of poker in the teachers' lounge. To Peter's left was his personal friend Bartholomew Oobleck. Across the table was a younger teacher, maybe in his early 30s, with a pink and white color scheme adorning his suit and a head of pink hair that made him easy to spot in the crowd. This was Alexander Peach, professor of botanical studies at Beacon Academy. The final member to round out the group was a young man that would easily be confused for a student. His bright blue hair, mirror glasses, and two color suit vest (one half orange, the other black) revealed him to be Professor Justinian, head of Dust application studies and the resident expert on the myths and legends of Remnant.

Peter finally finished his tale with a simple, "With that, the creature was doomed to fall and I was more than happy to oblige its fate."

"Honestly, Peter," Oobleck interjected, "I find that hard to believe."

"No kidding," Peach stretched slightly. "Seriously, I find it hard to imagine killing a Grimm with nothing more than a lighter and some copper wire as a weapon."

"Then you simply have no imagination, my boy." Peter let out a bellowing laugh. "I jest, Peach."

"I don't think I want to imagine how you would even begin to do half of what you say you did in your stories."

"You don't believe I did any of that?"

"Nope."

"He did." The teachers around the table turned to Justinian, who was finally entering the conversation. "I've actually seen him pull off the copper wire thing. It, apparently, can be done."

"And the time he said he killed a Grimm with just a broom stick?"

"I wasn't there. Thank dust for that, if the story is true."

Peter just continued to laugh good-naturedly. "Maybe one day, you could do something so spectacularly unbelievable."

"I think I'd rather not." Justinian looked over his hand a moment before placing them face down on the table. "Fold."

Oobleck did the same. "Not this hand."

Peter laughed again. "I suppose it's just you and me, Peach." He placed his cards on the table revealing his hand. "Two pair. Kings and Queens."

Peach sighed. "Twos and Threes…"

"That's fine, my boy. Often a loss can be turned to create a new experience. Still, it must feel rather disappointing to lose like this."

"Actually," Peach placed his hand on the table, revealing two 2s and three 3s. "Full house."

Justinian chuckled. "Looks like he feels Peachy."

After a moment of silence for the death of comedy, Peach stood up and stretched. "You lost Peter. You know what that means, right?"

"I'm aware." Peter stood, slightly unnerved.

Bartholomew placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Good luck, Peter."

"Thank you, Bart."

"You'll need it." Justinian added, deadpanned.

Peter walked down the hall and stood outside the office of Headmaster Ozpin. After a few deep breaths, he walked in and looked around. As expected, Ozpin was nowhere to be found. _Likely out with Glynda,_ he thought. He looked around the office and found the object he was seeking, Ozpin's prize coffee maker. He knew that the device was actually broken. Thankfully, Ozpin had yet to notice thanks to Glynda. Peter recounted the bet, _sneak into Ozpin's office and replace the coffee maker without the Headmaster realizing it was ever broken._ Peter went to reach for the device only to find a sticky note on the side.

It read, " **Dear Peter, It is most likely that you will be the one to read this after losing to Alexander at cards. I was well aware of the braking of my favorite coffee maker. I had it repaired as soon as I was able.** "

"Well… Ozpin never ceases to amaze."

" **By the way, I know you were the one to break my appliance and we** **will** **talk about this when I return. –Ozpin** "

Peter looked at the paper in silence. His first thought, _escape!_ He moved quickly toward the door, only to have it open before he reached the doorknob. Standing in the doorway was Ozpin.

Once he noticed Peter, a good natured smile spread across his face. Beneath this face of a friend was the snake, ready to kill its victim as painfully as possible. "Peter, what a surprise." Ozpin closed the door behind him as he entered.

It is said, that what happened behind that door would put Peter's stories to shame.

\/

 **King: Hello there everybody! This idea popped into my head at one point and I thought it would be interesting to put a fun spin on the story of the teachers. This one is a more a series of little stories than a larger one. So if you have any requests just let me know. Preferably by way of PM. Don't want to use reviews to make requests. That would be silly.**


	2. The Peaches

With a loud yawn, Professor Alexander Peach walked down the hallways of the Beacon Academy. He was kept up the night before grading papers and preparing for the projects he was going to give his students. Now, he was going to go see the one person who could make him feel better in this world, his wife Celia.

Celia Peach was Beacon Academy's resident weapon smith and professional armorer. She was often seen wearing her forging attire: thick apron, thermal gloves, and blue jumpsuit. Her red hair was usually covered in soot from the forge's fires, but she never really minded. Granted, she never really left the forge for very long.

When Alexander arrived at the forge, he was surprised to see his wife working on yet another piece. Although, this time it seemed she had help. Following Celia's direction was one of the students, Ruby Rose.

"Are you sure this is the right metal?"

"Yes Miss Rose. I'm sure."

"It just seems so… weak."

"That's because it's not done yet." Celia turned and noticed her husband in the doorway. "Now, fold it over and reheat the metal. Continue that process ten more times."

"Okay."

With Ruby distracted, Celia walked over to Alexander and the two shared a quick embrace and a kiss. "What are you doing here?" Despite the question, it was clear she was happy to see him.

"I just wanted to see my beautiful wife. Is that so wrong?"

"Not at all. I'm glad you came, actually."

Alexander sighed but continued to smile. "What do you want me to do this time?"

Celia stuck out her tongue. "What makes you think I need something from you?"

"We've been married for five years."

"Good point. Okay, I'm working on a new piece and I need some of those roots from last time."

Alexander sighed. "I'm on it."

Celia kissed his cheek. "Thanks." She turned back toward the forge, now taking over the process from the visiting student.

Ruby walked over to the door, finally noticing the botany professor nearby. "Hi, Professor Peach."

"Hello Miss Rose." Professor Peach continued walking down the hall. Ruby was walking in the same direction. After a while, he stopped and turned to Ruby. "You know, I've been meaning to ask…"

"What's that?"

"My wife and I would both be referred to as _Professor Peach_. How do you students keep track of who is who in conversation?"

"Well, you are Professor Peach, obviously, and Mrs. Peach doesn't like being called Professor. So we just call her Celia."

Alexander laughed. "That makes sense. She never was one for formalities."

After a moment of silence, Ruby spoke up again. "Can I ask you something?"

Peach couldn't help but smile. "You just did."

Ruby puffed up one of her cheeks in irritation. "I meant something else."

"I know. Go ahead."

"How did you and your wife meet, anyway?"

Alexander was caught off guard by this. Most people didn't ask how they met, just how they work at all. The botanist and the weapon smith aren't usually put together in a pairing. Actually, that was something they would often have a bit of fun with. People would assume that Celia was the botanist and Alexander was the weapon smith. They loved seeing peoples' faces when they learned the truth. However, this student wasn't asking anything like that. She was asking 'how' instead of 'why.'

"Good question…"

Ruby was confused. "You don't remember?"

"Not really."

"Weird. I always heard that people remember the first time they meet someone important to them."

Alexander laughed. "That is true rather often. However, after I met Celia, the rest of the world just melted away for me. I don't remember anything else but her."

"Aw! That's so sweet."

"Excuse me Miss Rose, but I believe you have a class with Professor Justinian soon."

Ruby froze. "Oh crap! You're right! Sorry! Gotta go!" The little girl in the red hood disappeared in a flurry of rose petals.

Walking up behind the botany professor was his wife. "Do you really not remember?"

"Hell no! Of course I remember. It's just not the kind of situation you tell students. Especially the younger students."

Celia chuckled. "It wasn't that bad."

"I couldn't sit right for a week." Alexander deadpanned.

Celia just kept laughing.

\/

 **King: How did they meet, I wonder? I'll leave it to your imaginations.**


	3. Acting Headmaster

Glynda wasn't sure how to explain what she was seeing. It wasn't impossible, nothing really was, but it just seemed… like it would never happen in a million years. It didn't make sense. It was unheard of. It was… just wrong. Justinian was sitting in Ozpin's desk.

Glynda, admittedly, was a creature of habit. She walks in every morning to prep Ozpin on the events of the day. Then she and Ozpin would share a cup of coffee before getting to work. At lunch, she and Ozpin would go to the cafeteria to check on the students and make sure there wasn't a repeat of the food fight between teams RWBY and JNPR. After classes, she and Ozpin would plan the schedule for the following day. After that, they would go their separate ways for the day, only to repeat the process the next day.

Now, when she entered the office of her superior, she found the youngest teacher sitting at Ozpin's desk. "Hello Glynda."

"Justinian?" Glynda's voice was stern and professional. However, there was the slightest hint of hostility. "Why, may I ask, are you sitting in Ozpin's desk?"

"Boss man is out for the day and left me in charge." Justinian leaned back in Ozpin's chair, causing a visible reaction of irritation from Glynda. "So, I figured I'd take the chair in his absence."

Glynda's irritation paused a moment after processing exactly what she had heard. "Wait, why is Ozpin absent?"

Justinian shrugged his shoulders. "Hell if I know. He just said…" Justinian grabbed one of the coffee mugs by Ozpin's desk in an attempt to mimic the Headmaster. "'I need to take care of something today and I will be away from the school for the day.' After that, he left." Justinian looked into the mug and walked over to a nearby coffee pot, where he filled the mug before sitting back down. "Never said where or why. Just that he would be away."

Glynda was still irritated, but she was nothing if not professional. "I understand."

Justinian raised an eyebrow. After a moment a devilish smirk spread across his face. "Do you now."

Glynda knew this smile. She had only worked with him since the beginning of the year, but that smirk was infamous. He was a expert ant reading others. He was so good, in fact, that some even believed his semblance was the ability to read minds. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're upset about this situation." He narrowed his eyes. "Question is, about what in particular? My being in charge instead of a more experienced huntsman? Maybe…" He took a sip from the coffee and just made Glynda all the angrier. Justinian just kept smiling. "Maybe it's that Ozpin left and didn't tell you. That he left you on your own."

"Nonsense!" Glynda blushed slightly, but it wasn't too noticeable. She quickly turned to leave. "While not telling me he was going to be absent is annoying, it hardly warrants any reaction from me."

"And yet, between my two suggestions, it did."

Glynda froze in the doorway.

"I see the way you two interact. He's the only one you willingly follow. The one you trust the most, regardless of the situation. He trusts you unconditionally and to a degree beyond your professional idea." Justinian placed Ozpin's, now empty, mug back on the desk. "Why not just accept reality and tell him how you really feel?"

Glynda's shoulders fell and she looked toward the floor. "Because I can't."

Justinian was, honestly, surprised she said it rather than further deny.

Glynda continued, "We have a professional relationship. That's it. He's the Headmaster and I'm a teacher at an academy designed to protect those who will protect the future. We don't have the time to become closer. You'll see soon enough."

"What about Alexander and Celia?"

"They married before becoming teachers here."

"So, you really think that you are incapable of becoming closer because you became a teacher at Beacon, and that you two are too busy?"

After a few seconds of silence. "Yes."

Justinian sighed. "I wasn't going to say anything…"

Glynda turned back to the young teacher.

"…but, it's clear that you two are closer than you think."

Glynda's irritation had long been replaced with confusion. "How so?"

"Well, for one, you were supposed to be in charge when Ozpin left. I just said I was in charge to reach this conversation."

"W-what?" The irritation was back.

"Yep. You're the only person he trusts enough to run the school when he's not here." Justinian stood up from the desk and stood to the side. "If you want to throw me out the room, might I suggest the window? I have an early class to teach and would like to expedite the trip down."

Glynda was more than happy to oblige, tossing him from the window. She watched as he fell from the tower and landed in the courtyard, no worse for the wear. Glynda's scroll started to ring. When she answered it, it was Justinian.

"Thank you." He then abruptly hung up.

Glynda just stood there. _Ozpin trusts me that much?_

\/

 **King: Hello there everybody! Nice to see you again. I, personally, always liked the idea of Ozpin and Glynda being together-together (in the words of Nora). Yet they never seem to be. So, this is a weak way to explain a possible reason as to why. As for how Justinian could survive a fall from Ozpin's office, that will be explained in a later piece.**


	4. Detention!

A loud groan filled the room. Yang fell onto the desk. "This is so boring."

Weiss was a bit beyond irritated with the brawler. "Maybe, if you hadn't destroyed the classroom, we wouldn't have detention!"

Ruby attempted to calm her partner and her sister, but to no avail.

How did they get here? Well, Team RWBY had been given detention after an incident in the dust lab. Yang decided to try to mix some dust, despite her teacher's warnings, and caused a massive explosion that engulfed the room. Thanks to their auras, no one was hurt. It helps that the dust was a weaker variety which just created a concussive blast rather than a real explosion. They were sent to detention as a team, as per Professor Justinian's style of punishment. To Justinian, the actions of one member of a team effects the team as a whole at all times. So, Weiss is a bit mad at her teammate for getting detention in one of Justinian's classes. Now, the team was just waiting for Professor Goodwitch, the usual teacher in charge of detentions. They thought that a detention with Goodwitch would be the worst thing they could imagine.

They were wrong. When the door opened, it wasn't the disciplinarian sorceress, it was Justinian himself with a case in one hand and his 5 foot sword/heavy rifle combo weapon, the Colossus, in the other. He turned to look at team RWBY and walked over to the desk at the head of the class. He placed his sword on the side of the desk and the case on the desk itself. "Hello girls. Ready for detention?"

"Um… Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Belladonna?"

"If this is detention, why would you bring your weapon?"

"Excellent observation. You shall soon learn that my detentions are far from normal." He opened the case and pulled out four sets of wrist bands. He walked over and grabbed each students' arm and placed the band on their wrist. "These are special devices of my creation. While you wear them, you will be subject to their effects."

"And these effects are?" Weiss asked, but soon got her answer. The strength in her limbs had been drained and she was unable to move. A glace to her teammates revealed they were suffering similar effects.

"That." He picked up his weapon. He looked back to them and smiled. "Now… run."

"W-what?"

Weiss soon found a sword embedded in the desk in front of her. "You see, Miss Schnee, I always saw myself as a sporting man. I'm giving you four a chance to get out of detention. You four run, and I chase you. If you can evade me for the duration of a normal detention, you can go free. If I catch you, your detention sentence and duration will be doubled."

"That hardly seems fair. We can barely move."

"No. You can't fight. If you attempt to run, the device won't stop you."

Sure enough, Weiss attempted to stand and was unhindered. Her team all stood and started for the door.

"Oh, before you leave, I'm going to give you a warning."

The team stopped.

"I'm not alone. I have two other teachers hunting you down. They won't try to catch you, but they will relay your position to me. Good luck."

With that, the team ran. Behind them was the sound of Justinian's laugh. To most, it would be boisterous, good-natured, and even honest. Here, in this situation, it was the laugh of a twisted predator, hunting his prey.

Ten minutes had passed and team RWBY found no sign of their hunter. Weiss spoke quietly, but still possessing a hint of an angry yell. "This is crazy!"

Blake nodded. "I know, but there's not much we can do. Just try to run."

Ruby looked around a corner. She moved her hands in an intricate pattern. He team was lost. She just sighed. "No sign of him."

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

"RWBY?" the team turned to the voice and found one of their professors. It was a taller man wearing a combination of pink and white. Pink hair and eyes made it painfully obvious who it was, Professor Alexander Peach. "What are you doing out here, shouldn't you be in detention?"

"We kind of are." Ruby answered.

"Let me guess, Justinian?"

The whole team nodded at this.

"Oh… Good luck. You'll need it."

A sound from the hallway caught their attention. It was the sound of metal scraping across the floor. A quick glance showed the blue haired professor walking down the hallway with his sword dragging across the ground. "Come out, come out, where ever you are." His singsong tone was menacing to team RWBY.

"Sorry, Professor Peach. We have to go!" With that, the team ran off.

Alexander stood there as Justinian approached. "So, think they'll pull it off?"

Justinian picked up his sword and placed it over his shoulder. "At this rate, they might just."

"Think they'll figure out your little game?"

Justinian smiled. "Maybe."

\/

With the end of the hour, a normal detention would have ended. Team RWBY made it to the end and were free to go. However, the bracelets were still on, making it impossible to fight normally. As they walked, Weiss was venting about the device and how they could remove them.

Yang was just as upset. Strangely, however, she spoke with more of a level head. "Weiss, all we have to do to go back to the classroom and he'll remove them."

"About that…" The team looked around at the sound of their teacher's voice. Only to find it coming from the bracelets. "I have a proposition for you. Here you have two options. You can return to the room and wait for me to return to remove them…"

"See?"

"…Though, I am rather busy as of late. It could take quite a while for me to return."

"Oh…"

"Or, you can come to me in the arena and fight me to remove them."

The team looked to one another. It was clear they all made the same decision.

Sitting in the arena was Justinian, flanked by Professor Peach and his wife. He stretched and lied back on the ground. "Which option do you think they'll pick?"

Alexander looked toward the door. "Knowing Miss Xiao Long, she'll want to fight. Miss Belladonna and Miss Schnee are more patient and will likely try to wait it out."

Celia looked to her husband. "What about Ruby?"

"Miss Rose is the wild card. As both the leader and the odd one out in the votes, her decision will influence the others."

Accompanied by this was the sound of the doors opening to reveal team RWBY. The team leader stepped forward. "Professor Justinian."

The young professor jumped to his feet and looked toward his students. "I see you choose to fight."

Ruby's serious face changed into an innocent smile. "Nope."

Justinian raised an eyebrow.

"We're here for option three. Kindly asking you to remove the bracelets."

"Fairly certain that wasn't an option." Justinian smiled. "However, you came to this conclusion and confronted me as a team. Even creating another option with what you knew." He reached into his pocket and held up a small remote. With a press of a button, the bracelets unlocked and fell to the ground. "I'm proud of all of you and your detention is null and void. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Ruby jumped for joy. Her team all had similar reactions, with Yang pulling her team into a group hug. As they left, Justinian just watched and smiled.

Alexander looked toward Justinian. "Was that what you were expecting?"

"Not specifically, but in the ball park."

Celia chuckled. "So, what did you expect, exactly?"

"I didn't expect the decision; but I knew that, one way or another, they would act as a team. And that's all I wanted out of this."

\/

 **King: Hello there everybody! Hope you had fun in detention with the team. Let's hope this is the last time we have detention with Justinian. Remember, not every teacher is as cool as Justinian. Stay out of trouble, everybody.**


	5. Renunion

Justinian found himself using his weekend for a trip to Vale. As he walked, he knew he was being followed. By who, you ask? By a certain team of four young huntresses-in-training, RWBY. Honestly, this was nothing new. Likely spurred on by Yang Xiao Long, the team would follow him in an attempt to learn something about the newest teacher. Many students saw him as a bit of a mystery. After all, he wasn't much older than them, having just graduated the year before, and none of the students could ever really predict what he would do. Hell, a few days ago he fell out of the sky, nearly landing on Jaune, and brushed it off like it was nothing.

This was the third time they followed him into town. He would usually go about his day and ignore them. They would get distracted by something, he never knew what, and go away after a while. This time, however, he was on a schedule and couldn't afford waiting for them get bored. He walked into the crowd and, once obscured by the population, he took out a vial and ran the contents through his hair. The bright blue of his hair dripped away to reveal brilliant orange. He draped a white coat over his vest and removed his glasses. Once he exited the mass of people, he looked like a brand new person. He saw team RWBY looking around and arguing about where he went.

He continued walking to a local bar owned by one Hei Xiong, often called Junior. When he opened the door, the employees went silent. As he walked toward the counter, Junior was watching him like a hawk. He was confused, while also tense and ready for anything. Almost like he was expecting a fight.

"Torchwick?"

Justinian sat at the bar. "Strawberry Sunrise. On the rocks."

Junior let out a sigh of relief. "Hey Constantine. One sec." Junior prepared the drink and placed it in front of the teacher. "So, why are you here this time?"

Constantine took a sip of his drink, "Why am I ever here, Junior?"

Junior sighed. "Yeah, yeah. More information, then?"

"Always."

"What about this time?"

After another sip and a moment of silence created a bit of tension. "My brother."

Junior froze. "You have a brother?"

"Yep, and you are going to tell me where he is."

"I didn't even know you had a brother."

"Come on, Junior. The resemblance is uncanny."

\/

In an abandoned warehouse, we find Roman Torchwick and Neo doing inventory on their latest haul. Well, that's not really true. Roman was doing all the work while Neo sat and eat ice cream. Roman finally got fed up with her behavior. "You know, you could help."

Neo just sat there in silence, ignoring him.

"I'm starting to wonder why you're here at this point."

A loud explosion interrupted Roman's rant. There was now a large hole in the side of one of the walls. Standing in the center, was a young man with orange hair and blue eyes. He wore a white coat and dark, almost black but still not quite, pants and equally dark shoes. "Hello, Roman." The man's voice was familiar to the master thief. He knew the man, and this knowledge made him freeze. He couldn't move.

Seeing this, Neo rolled her pink and brown eyes and stood up from her ice cream. She walked toward the intruder and let a smile cross her face. _Finally. A fight._ She now stood directly in front of the young man and looked him in the eye. Sort of. If he hadn't been looking down toward her, it wouldn't have worked. She blinked and her eye colors switched places. She was taunting him, waiting for him to make the first move. He did, but not how she expected.

He planted a kiss on her forehead and walked around her as she froze in confusion. "Roman, you and I have some business."

"H-hey, Constantine… I'm a bit busy. So can we reschedule?"

Neo regained her composer and was furious. She aimed a strike right to the back of his head. She was going to knock him flat on his ass for that. When she hit him with her parasol, it just… stopped. He didn't flinch at all.

"Won't work." The man, Constantine, didn't even turn around. "My semblance has made my skin stronger than steel. There's nothing you can do to hurt me."

Neo was pissed. But she knew a sure fire solution for this. She drew her sword from her umbrella. _I'll kill you! You piece of…_

Before she could finish her thought, he reached back and grabbed her arm. His grip was strong, she wasn't getting away. "Roman, tell me you didn't hire her. She hardly seems to listen."

Roman was caught between a rock and a hard place. It came down to who he was most scared of. On the one hand, Neo, the psychotic little bundle of hurt. On the other, Constantine. _No contest._ "I didn't hire her. My boss made us work together."

"You have a boss? You? Roman, the master criminal, who left home to become the ruler of the Vale underground?"

Neo blinked in confusion. _They know each other? Wait… he sold me out!? I'll kill him for that!_ She then found herself sitting down at the table with a new bowl of ice cream. _What?_

"Well," Roman gave a nervous chuckle. "You work fast."

Constantine brushed it off. "Not likely. She's condescending and a bit psychotic. Get passed all that, and it might work." He turned toward Roman again. "Now," he held out his arms toward the chime boss. "…come give your little brother a hug."

Neo nearly chocked on her ice cream. She couldn't tell you when precisely she started eating from the bowl Constantine gave her. Come on, it's ice cream! She wasn't going refuse ice cream. Especially not her favorite flavor, Neapolitan (you are what you eat, after all). _Brothers!?_

Roman was still visibly nervous. "I'd rather not."

"Aw, now I'm sad. If you have cold feet about hugging your only brother…" A twisted smile spread across Constantine's face. "Perhaps a quick warm up is in order." With a flick of his wrists, a pillar of fire erupted from each sleeve. The fire charged the dust surrounding him and exploded. The dust cleared and he stood undeterred by the explosion, the fire from his wrists now out.

"Well… that was a waste of good dust."

Constantine laughed. "Your little friend doesn't seem to mind."

 _Little?!_ Neo stood after hearing that and looked toward Roman's brother with an uncontrollable blood lust. _You are so dead!_ She charged toward him, using her parasol as a blunt instrument. She was going to break every bone in his body and stomp on what's left until he's nothing but goo!

You can, no doubt, see a pattern here. As she struck the young man, it bounced off and he caught her hand again. "Made you mad, did I?"

Neo couldn't hear him. With thoughts of how she'll kill him and make him suffer filling her mind. She wanted nothing more than to kick in his teeth. _In fact…_ She moved to allow her ample room for said strike and landed a clean kick to the mouth that offended her. When he didn't react… _Again?!_ …she reeled back again and landed another kick to his face. She repeated this for maybe two minutes. Finally, she gave up. _What the hell?!_

"Are you done?"

Neo looked toward him, her eyes shifting to a combination of brown and white. She knew she couldn't hurt him, but she really wanted to.

"Good." He released her arm and returned her parasol. "I suggest you channel that anger into a more productive outlet."

Neo wasn't sure what to do at this point. She couldn't really do anything at thing point. So, she decided to return to her ice cream. Which is now melted… _Damn it._

Constantine chuckled and handed her a small bowl of ice cream, one of the ones Neo kept in a secret stash hidden in one of the dust crates.

She was about to question how he knew about it, but she really wanted the ice cream. So she just took it and sat down to enjoy it.

Roman was clearly impressed. "Huh… you were actually able to calm her down?"

"Not the person you should be concerned about Roman."

It was here that the crime lord suddenly remembered his brother was the man to calm Neo. He slowly turned to meet his brother's eyes. Roman nearly jumped, seeing the insatiable rage in his blue eyes. "S-so… what brings you to my little warehouse?"

"I have a few questions for you Roman."

"Um… okay."

\/

An hour later:

Roman, Constantine, and Neo were sitting at the table. Constantine had asked him fairly standard, brotherly questions. "How have you been?" "Have you been eating enough?" "Are you and Neo dating?" (The answers of which were "fine," "Yes," and "Hell No!"). The last question caught Roman off guard. "Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"You set out to become a master criminal. Now you're here, working for some shadowy figure. I just figured you would be running Vale by now."

"You're insulting me, aren't you?"

"No. I'm mocking you. You don't need my help to insult you."

Neo cracked off a chuckle at his.

"Oh, ha ha."

"So…" a devilish smile spread across Constantine's face. Roman hated this smile. Every time he saw it, Constantine was about to say something that would make him cringe at its accuracy. "Little Roman is scared of his boss?"

"Little? I'm older than you!"

"But you admit you're afraid of this 'boss'."

Roman was silent a moment. "I hate you."

"Hate you too, bro." Constantine stood up and stretched. "Well, I'm done here. See you around." As he was about to walk away, he stopped. "Oh, right." He pulled out a lighter and placed it on the table. "Found this on some poor chick in town. Considering it has your symbol on it, pretty sure it's yours."

"Uh… thanks."

"No problem. Oh, and Neo, was it?"

Neo looked toward Roman's brother and nodded.

"If you're interested in another round…" He reached into his pocket and placed a card in front of her. "…then give me a call." With that he walked away and left through the hole in the wall.

Neo picked up the card. _Professor Justinian?_

\/

 **King: Hello there everybody? Getting bored of my style yet? Well, we have a bit of a reveal with this chapter. What do you think? Too much? Oh well. This is my story and this is how it goes. If you wanted something different, than ask. No requests, you get more stuff like this.**


	6. Closer than you think

Justinian stood in the elevator to the Headmaster's office. He found himself stopping on every single floor on the way. No, he didn't push every button. He only pushed the button for Ozpin's office. Next thing he knew, all the buttons had lit up. _Must be something in the wiring…_ He swears Ozpin does it on purpose to raise the blood pressure of anyone making their way up to his office. Eventually, he made it to the office in question and the doors opened to reveal Ozpin sitting at his desk sipping from his coffee mug.

"Hey, boss." Justinian walked into the room.

"Justinian, you certainly took your time."

"I push one button and somehow, all the floors light up. You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Ozpin smiled. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

Justinian sighed. "So…"

"Right to the point, aren't you?"

"Always."

"Of course. I need your help with something."

Justinian took a second to read Ozpin's face. Once he had, a devilish smile spread across his face. "What do you need, boss man?"

\/

Justinian was walking down the hallways, thinking of how to complete Ozpin's request. He needed someone else to help him, but who? Port? _No. He can't keep a secret when pressed._ Oobleck? _No. He works to quickly and might it might not work._ Alexander? _No. He and Celia are always at each other's side._ As he created a list of teachers that he couldn't get to help him, he failed to notice one of his students walking down the hall toward him.

Yang Xiao Long noticed the teacher deep in thought and smiled. _Time to figure out the mystery._ "Hey Prof."

Justinian's gaze snapped toward Yang. "Oh! Hello. How can I help you?"

"You know, I think I have a few questions you might be able to answer."

Now fully focusing on the situation, the gears in Justinian's head formulated a wicked plan. "Well, Miss Xiao Long, I actually have an idea about that. What do you say to a game?"

Yang raised an eyebrow. "What game?"

Justinian pulled out a deck of cards. "One quick hand of Poker."

Yang smiled. "You're on."

They made their way to the dust lab and they sat down on opposite sides of Justinian's desk. Justinian started to shuffle the desk with one hand while leaning his chin on the other. He dealt the cards in the same form and they both had a five card hand. "Before we look at our cards, we should get the prize out of the way. What do you want if you win?"

Yang looked him square in the eye. "I want to ask you a few questions and you will answer honestly."

"Alright. And what do I get from you if I win?" He had his devilish grin across his face.

Yang misread the grin. Her mind was filled with ideas of what he could get. However, since she had recently read one of Blake's books. So, the premise of the book popped into her mind. _No! Bad Yang! Well… he is pretty good looking. But he's a teacher! But he's not that much older…_

"Oh my. How naughty."

Yang's mind nearly shut down hearing that. "W-wait! I didn't say anything!

"No, but you're face told me enough." Justinian thought a moment. "Actually, there is something you can do for me if I win."

Yang gathered herself again. "And that is?"

"I recently received a mission form the top. And I need some help to pull it off."

Yang nodded. "I guess that works."

"Aw… are you disappointed?"

"What? Of course not!" Now Yang was mad. She was the one who teased, not the other way around! But this guy… Somehow, he could read her and beat her to the punch. "Whatever. Let's just go."

Yang picked up her cards and nearly chocked on her own breath. The cards in her hand were a 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King. All of Hearts! A straight flush! _Holy crap!_ She glanced up to Justinian.

He seemed blank, not really there. He noticed her glance, "I take it you got a good hand."

Yang kept her composer. Despite her… 'outgoing' personality, she was more than capable of keeping herself in check when needed. "It's okay. I'll stick with it, I guess."

"Alright. Then I'll do the same."

Yang placed her cards on the desk. "Straight Flush."

Justinian seemed dejected.

"Looks like you have some questions to answer."

Justinian placed his cards on the table and slid them to reveal each card completely, one at a time. 10 of Spades. Jack of Spades.

 _No._

Queen of Spades.

 _No!_

King of Spades.

 _NO!_

Ace of Spades.

 _overloaded. Attempting restart._

"Looks like I win Miss Xiao Long. And I hope you remember that you are now part of my little mission."

Yang sighed. "Fine."

"Good." The teacher reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. "All you need to do is place this at the target location without being seen."

"Is that all?"

"Considering I'll be running distraction for you, that's all."

"Distraction? Who needs to be distracted?"

\/

When Glynda woke up that day, she was on top of the world. A day off was exactly what she needed. She had the whole day to herself. As she looked in the mirror she actually noticed herself smiling. _It's going to be good day._

 **(King: You should know better than that, Glynda.)**

The sound of an explosion across campus took her happy feeling and turned it into irritation. _What now?!_

Glynda moved with the force of death itself. She was pissed for three very important reasons. 1) It was her day off and now she had to clean up someone's mess. 2) She could tell the explosion was from the dust lab, which means that there was only one teacher that could have been responsible for this. And 3) it's her Dust Damned Birthday! Why does she have to deal with this today of all days?!

She finally made it to the dust lab and opened the bolted door. As the door opened, another shockwave shot through the hall and disheveled her appearance. With a flick of her wrist, she fixed her appearance and stormed into the room. She looked around and found no sign of Justinian.

Suddenly, Justinian popped up from behind his desk wearing a pair of laboratory goggles. "Hello Glynda. What brings you here?"

Glynda was too angry for this. "Justinian... care to explain exactly what you are doing?"

"Sure."

After a second of silence. "Well?!"

"You asked if I would, not if I was going to."

"JUSTINIAN!"

"Fine. I'm testing new dust combinations."

"By setting off explosions?!"

"The room is fire and blast proof. Remember?"

"I'm well aware." Oh… she remembered, all right. The original room was destroyed four years ago when Justinian first took a dust class. It was later remodeled to become 'Justinian Proof,' but he soon destroyed that as well. Eventually, they were able to make a room that he couldn't destroy. Glynda swears he's trying to, though.

"Speaking of which." He placed a vial of dust down in the center of the room and quickly grabbed Glynda's arm, dragging her behind his desk. "Fire in the hole!" He ducked behind the desk and the dust in the vial exploded in a destructive wave of fire.

Glynda was absolutely livid, but she knew she couldn't stop him. Dust application was his job, after all. She just stood up and silently left the room.

\/

Glynda returned to her office and closed the door quietly behind her before leaning against the back of her door and sliding down to the floor. _So much for a nice, peaceful birthday…_ Her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling that something was out of place. Glynda was always organized and could feel when something in her office was off before she could see it. Looking around, she found a small box on her desk. It was a gift box covered in green wrapping paper and tied with a purple ribbon. A card was attached to the side.

 **Glynda,**

 **Sorry I couldn't be there to give this to you in person. Sadly, the council is breathing down my neck and I can't leave my office without them threatening me. So, I had to use… less preferred methods. Happy Birthday.**

 **-Ozpin**

Glynda looked at the card and opened the box carefully. Inside was a set of earrings similar to the one's she wore normally. These, however, were a brilliant purple and had a small imprint of her symbol in gold. _These had to be custom orders. But I don't remember a package arriving for him. Wait! The day he left me in charge! Did he…?_ Glynda wasn't looking into the mirror. If she had she would have noticed her smile had returned, accompanied by a small blush.

\/

 **King: Hello there everybody! Spurred on by one Florence-LolaRose, this idea popped into my head. Have fun with it and hoped you enjoyed it.**


	7. Are you proud of me?

**King: Quick warning. This one is shorter than normal and contains material that can attack the feels. You have been warned.**

 **\/**

Yang walked into Junior's club with a real flare! Yeah. A flare. She destroyed the door, again. No one would ever doubt that she knew how to make an entrance. "Hello~"

"Damn it, blondie! How many times have I told you to stop doing that?!" Junior was mad, but he knew getting Yang mad would mean having to rebuild and a rather substantial hospital bill.

Yang made her way to the counter. "I'll take the usual."

"Strawberry Sunrise, no ice, a little umbrella, and some info?"

"How'd you know?"

Junior just rolled his eyes and prepared the drink.

"Why are you here now, anyway? Don't you have classes or something?"

"My class was canceled today." Yang let her eyes wonder and noticed a bottle sitting on the counter. "Who's this for?"

Junior looked at the bottle. "Some guy that stops in every year around this time. He buys the bottle and leaves. Never speaks."

"Huh…" She took a closer look at the bottle. It was an Atlasian alcohol, the kind that were used to drown out the past. "Why would he need this stuff?"

"Don't know. I don't ask."

"Who is he?"

"I told you, he doesn't exactly talk to anyone here." Junior looked up over her head. "Well, speak of the devil."

Yang turned around to see a young man with bright blue hair and mirror glasses. Despite wearing a white coat instead of his vest, Yang could tell who this was rather quickly. "Professor Justinian?"

"You know him?"

"Yeah. He's one of the teachers at Beacon."

Justinian walked up to the counter, paid for the bottle and left without saying a word.

Yang watched as he left. Once he was gone she finished her drink and pulled out her scroll. "I need to make a call. See you."

Junior just shook his head.

\/

Yang had called in her team. Now, all four were stealthily following their young professor. Yang told them about the bottle and this confused two out of three of her teammates. The only one who knew what she was talking about was Weiss.

"Father would drink that brand after the White Fang attacks on our company. He was not a pleasant person."

"Shush!" The team continued their 'mission.'

After a while, Justinian walked to the edge of the city and stopped in front of a small set of rocks. The team got a close as they dared without being caught. From their new position, they saw him remove a small vial from his pocket and pour the contents into his hair, turning it a bright orange. Next he removed his glasses, revealing his blue eyes. He looked eerily familiar.

"He looks kind of like…" Ruby whispered. She tried to think where she had seen his face before. The realization hit her like a brick. "Torchwick?!"

The team took a close look at the professor. He did look like the criminal, but it also clearly wasn't him. Their thoughts were cut off when he started to speak.

"Hello again."

They froze, thinking they were caught.

"It's been a year… Sorry. I'd visit more often, but I have a job now. I'm a professor at Beacon!" He was smiling, but he sounded… pained?

Team RWBY looked between themselves. _Who is he talking to?_ Ruby was wide-eyed. She point to the stones and as they looked on, it became obvious what they really were. Gravestones.

Justinian was holding back tears, but he kept his smile. "I miss you guys. So much." He wiped away a tear drop. "Roman misses you, too." He continued with a laugh. "He'd never say it out loud. He's fine. Still gets in trouble, though. I don't really blame him too much. After we lost you, he just… broke." He paused, unable to speak. "I'm fine, too. I love my job and my students are always fun to teach. I wish you could meet them." He stopped again, overcome by tears. "I miss you guys, but I know I can't change what's happened. But, if nothing else, I can do you both proud and make sure no child has to go through this." He leaned in and wrapped his arms around the stones. "I love you both." He stood up and wiped his tears away again. "I'll visit again sooner. I promise." With that he turned and walked away.

\/

Team RWBY only now left their hiding spot. No one was sure what to think. They looked to the graves. The one on the left read, **Athena Torchwick**. While the one on the right read, **Julius Torchwick**. On a small plaque between them,

 **Two souls taken from us far too soon. You we're our light. Our heroes. We know you're in a better place now. All we can do now is hope we're making you proud.**

 **–** **Roman and Constantine.**

\/

 **King: Hello there everybody. This one actually kind of hurt to write. Here's hoping we never have to experience this again.**


	8. To Be Young Again

On a quiet Friday, Glynda, Peter, and Bartholomew were standing in the teacher's lounge. Bart enjoying a cup of coffee (or 10), Peter recounting another of his stories, and Glynda grading a set of papers. The three were enjoying their day so far. It was a genuinely quiet day, peaceful.

 **(King: Let's fix that, shall we?)**

 _BOOM!_

The sound of an explosion in the distance caught their attention. Bart and Peter immediately rushed to the scene. Glynda could tell where the explosion came from, it was Justinian again. She wouldn't have moved, but Ozpin was visiting the dust professor so she had to ensure his safety. The three made their way to Justinian's lab and were met with a still bolted door. Glynda forced the door open and a puff of smoke flew out from the lab.

Inside the lab was a young man with dark hair, still coughing from the smoke. He was well dressed, wearing a suit and a green scarf and seemed to carry himself with a level of wisdom beyond his years. "Well… that was certainly an impressive event."

The other man in the room was older, his hair graying. He was also well dressed, but wore a two colored vest (one half orange, the other black). "At least you didn't take the front of the blast."

Glynda looked from person to person. Eventually, she had to ask "Um… Ozpin?"

The young man looked toward her. "Yes?"

"C-can you see yourself at this moment?"

"The blast was a bit blinding. It might take a bit for my vision to readjust." After a few seconds of blinking, the young man looked around.

"Do you… feel okay?"

"I feel great, actually. Better than ever."

Justinian groaned. "Glad to see you're having fun." Justinian's eyes adjusted first and looked toward the young man in shock. The young headmaster's eyes finally adjusted and looked over to the older professor. Justinian used his scroll's screen as a mirror and slowly turned back to the group. "Huh…"

"That's it?" Glynda asked. "Just 'huh'? Nothing about your situation and how this happened?"

"Glynda, this is the result of a dust experiment. If there's one thing I've learned with this stuff, it's that anything can, and often will, happen."

Glynda just sighed in irritation. Bart and Peter were stunned silent. Eventually, Glynda was able to speak. "I should be surprised or at least irritated. I'm not surprised."

"Then you're irritated?"

"It's building, yes." She took a deep breath. "How long until you can fix this?"

"My notes were protected by my desk, so I can get something together. However, it will likely take until midnight, give or take."

"So, you two are stuck like this until then?"

"More or less."

"Unbelievable."

"It's the best we have. For now, Ozpin will need a disguise."

"Wait. Why?"

"Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, is now 20 years old. What would happen if the students or, Monty forbid, the council find out about this? That said, I think he deserves to enjoy his renewed youth." Justinian walked over to a trunk on the side of the room with his symbol on it. "I keep a spare set of clothes in here. They should work."

When everything was said and done, the young headmaster was dressed in a white button up shirt and matching set of black pants and vest. On the back of the vest was a gold embroidery of a mechanical crown covered in gears. Ozpin stretched and cracked a few of his joints to get a feel for the outfit. "I like it."

"Alright. Good luck, Ozpin."

"I'll catch up with you all later." With that he left.

Justinian turned to the other teachers. "Alright. Port, Oobleck, you two are going to help me get everything together. Glynda, you'll need to go about your day normally. And, no matter what, all of this never leaves this room. Got it?" The teachers all agreed and got to work.

\/

Ozpin was walking through the hallways. No one glanced at him for more than a moment. _They likely think I'm just another student._ He eventually found himself in the cafeteria. Strangely, people were running away. He looked back toward the room and found teams RWBY and JNPR in another food fight, this time joined by Sun and Neptune from SSSN who sided with team RWBY. The teams were uneven. The young Ozpin smiled, _Can't have that._

Ozpin jumped in and grabbed an orange from the table. With a quick toss, he ricocheted the fruit off the wall, causing it to hit a tray of food at the perfect angle to toss it into the air and land on Sun's head without him noticing until it was too late.

"What the…?" Sun was confused. But, once he lost focus, he was pelted by JNPR's attacks.

Everyone spun around to see the new face. He was standing there tossing a tomato between his hands. "Hello there. Room for one more?" He tossed the tomato at Ruby Rose's face. The young huntress dodged, but her new opponent had a backup fruit that hit her square in the jaw. With that, the next 15 minutes were filled with flying food and laughter. The food fight ended when Goodwitch walked in.

\/

The students, including the young Ozpin (not that anyone else knew that), had been given detention. The detention was thankfully not held by Justinian, Goodwitch, or Port. Instead, Celia was in charge of their punishment. This was a double edged sword. Celia didn't care what they did while in detention, but she covered the door with her weapon, barbed/razor wire, and created the atmosphere of a prison. She had even removed the upper section of her jumpsuit and wore a tank top, revealing her barbwire tattoos. Her shoulders gave away her attitude about detention, **No way in, No way out**. Despite this, she often took a nap during detentions. This was one of those times.

After their warden fell asleep Yang moved next to the young Ozpin. "So, I don't recognize you. New here?"

Ozpin smiled. "Sort of."

"Are you always so vague?"

"Usually."

"So, what's your name?"

Ozpin knew not to use his real name. So he made up one quickly. "Oliver Zander."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Yang Xiao Long. So, how long have you been in town?"

"Since this morning."

"How long will you be staying?"

"I leave later tonight."

Yang nearly jumped, "Then it's my job to show you the best Vale has to offer! In fact, my whole team will show you around!" The team in question all looked over toward Yang. The blonde attempted to explain herself to her team. "We are going into Vale after this anyway. The more the merrier, right?"

Weiss sighed while Ruby happily nodded in agreement. Blake, however, spoke up. "We _are_ already going."

Weiss hit her head against the desk knowing, once again, it was three to one.

'Oliver' laughed slightly. "Well, someone is upset."

Yang looked over to Weiss. "Oh don't mind her. The Ice Queen is always like that."

\/

Team RWBY and Oliver had visited three places in Vale so far. Ruby visited the local weapons supplier for more ammunition. Weiss bought more dust. Blake had them stop at a book store to pick up the latest book in her favorite series. Finally, it was Yang's stop on the trip. As they walked they were talking about a few things, mainly as a handful of conversations between the members of the team. Oliver (Ozpin) was just walking along silent. He was always the type to listen instead of speak. Weiss was berating Yang for her lack of work ethic. Ruby would try to defend her sister while keeping Weiss calm. Blake would chime in from time to time.

Eventually, they reached their destination, a nightclub owned by one Hei "Junior" Xiong. Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Not what I was expecting."

Weiss looked toward her blonde teammate. "I have to say, I'm also a little confused about this choice."

Yang smiled and wrapped her arm around Oliver's shoulders. "Well, this is Oliver's only day in town and I figured it should end on a high note."

Oliver regained his balance and calmly added, "It's closed."

Yang looked over and saw a sign on the door that said that the club was, in fact, closed for maintenance. "Crap." She instantly got over it. "Let's try somewhere else."

As they started to walk away, their attention was caught by the sound of gunshots. They spun around to find a group of masked men running down the street toward them. They were ready to fight, but there was one problem. The masked men had a hostage, a small child still crying for his mother. Team RWBY knew if they tried to fight them, they would put the child in danger.

Ruby addressed her team. "Okay, we hide and follow them. Once the boy is safe, we beat those guys to a pulp."

Her team nodded and turned to Oliver.

The young man took a deep breath and walked passed them, right in the path of the oncoming criminals.

"What are you doing?!"

The masked men slowed down when they saw Oliver. One of them pointed a gun at the child's head while their leader took a step toward them. "You've got some stones to get in our way. But would you really risk this kid's life?"

Oliver remained calm. His eyes started to glow green but soon stopped and returned to normal. Then, he smiled. "What kid?"

The man looked toward their hostage and found nothing. Their hostage was gone. "H-how did he…?" His thought was interrupted by the sensation of a metal bar impacting his jaw. When he looked toward his attacker, the young man had not moved. "What the hell is going on?!"

Oliver smiled again. "' _What,'_ indeed. Now then, this has been an interesting endeavor, but…" His demeanor became cold and intimidating. "…I suggest you surrender before you get hurt."

The lead criminal pulled out his gun. "I'm not afraid of you! I'll kill you!" He fired the gun and bullet seemed to pass through Oliver's chest. As the young man fell to the ground, the criminal started to laugh. "You're all talk after all!" He stopped laughing abruptly and fell toward the ground, followed closely by his associates.

Team RWBY wasn't sure what to make of it all. They walked over to Oliver's body and it erupted in emerald fire. The world around them became a haze and refocused to reveal Oliver comforting the child.

\/

 **12:00, midnight**

Ozpin walked into the dust lab and found Justinian sitting at his desk grading lab reports form his class. "Where's Bart and Peter?"

Justinian continued grading while he spoke, "We finished the project a while ago and I told them if they stayed, they could get caught in a blast and we'd be back to square one. So, how did you enjoy the day of youth?"

"It was… nice."

"Got a chance to stretch your semblance?"

Ozpin just smiled. "I get the feeling the reason you know that is obvious."

"Your eyes still have a green tint to them."

"Always the observant one."

Justinian passed him a small dust crystal. "All you have to do it break it."

Ozpin smiled and dropped the crystal to the floor, causing it to shatter. They soon found themselves back to normal. Ozpin stretched and yawned. "It's good to be back."

Justinian continued to grade papers. "Likewise. Probably a good time for some sleep."

Ozpin yawned. "I agree, but first… about my semblance…"

"I know. I know. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

\/

 **King: Hello there everybody! I wanted this one to be more fun compared to the last one. I also had to get other stuff done first so it took a while. But here we are again. Hope you all enjoy the idea about Ozpin's semblance.**


	9. Cold Front

Justinian was just minding his own business… _"_ _Was"_ being the operative word. You see, it's Family Visitation Day. _Really needs a better name for that…_ Basically, family members of Beacon's students and faculty are allowed to visit the campus. The key here is "faculty members." That's right, including the teachers. Celia and Alexander's family members arrived for the day to talk about and to each other's in-laws. Though, the parents of both teachers asked the question of grandchildren at least once. Peter's younger sister stopped by and asked her brother to tell her stories about his adventures in Beacon. _So that's why he does that…_ Bart's father visited as well. Apparently, Oobleck senior worked in a history museum. _Like father, like son…_ Glynda and Ozpin didn't have family members stop by so they spent the day together. _Good for them._ Justinian's family certainly wasn't going to visit, what with his parents' untimely end and his brother's criminal record. He was going to enjoy a nice quiet day.

 _Oh how foolish I've been…_ Justinian found himself face to face with one Winter Schnee, elder sister of one of his student and the woman he humiliated in the Vytal festival four years ago. "Hello…" His greeting was cut off as Winter's sword was poised to slice his throat. "Nice to see there's no bad blood anymore…"

"Why are you here?"

Justinian was somewhat irritated. "I work here. That a good enough answer for you?"

"Hardly."

Justinian had his devilish smile on. "Still mad I beat you into the dirt four years ago?"

"That was a fluke and you know it!"

"Try me Ice Queen. I'll beat you again."

"Winter?" Behind the Atlas Specialist was her younger sister Weiss. "You two know each other?"

Winter returned her sword to her side. "Don't worry about it Weiss." She turned back to Justinian, "We'll settle this later."

Justinian smiled. "Any time…" As he watched them leave, he just couldn't help himself. "Aw… a cold shoulder from Ice Queen Winter? How original…"

Winter stopped mid stride. First, they met again, which was too soon by the way. Then, he had to remind her about the time she lost. Now… stupid puns. She'd had all she could stand. She turned and glared at him. "Arena. Now."

"Sounds good to me."

\/

They entered Beacon's combat arena and stood on opposite ends of the ring. Winter looked positively infuriated. Justinian was brandishing his devilish smirk once again. Surrounding them was the stands which had a handful of individuals watching the arena. Sitting behind Winter was her sister Weiss. Next to the younger Ice Queen was her team: Ruby, Blake, and Yang. In the center was team JNPR and CFVY. Justinian looked behind him to see who was sitting in his corner.

Naturally, there was no one; but, then again, he didn't expect anyone and was doing this for a different reason. Winter used the opportunity to charge forward and bring her sword down on his neck. However, since his semblance made his skin stronger than steel, it just stopped on contact. When her attack failed, she jumped backward to gain distance.

Justinian kept smiling. "I thought you would have learned four years ago. Your attacks mean nothing to me."

Winter was pissed, but she knew she couldn't just attack him. She remembered that she can't actually hurt him with her sword, but that was the point this time. She created a glyph and attacked using a swarm of auric birds. She knew he can't withstand aura or dust based attacks as well as physical attacks. With this, she had him. What she heard next was more than a little disturbing.

He was laughing. He just stood there and took the attack. "Sorry Winter, but you'll have to do better than that."

"H-how?"

"Simple. Four years of _actual_ huntsman training. Working for Glynda Goodwitch doesn't hurt." He drew his sword, Colossus, and pointed it toward the Ice Queen. "And trust me, she hits harder than you ever could." He raised his sword to the air and swung downward to her head. Winter dodged the attack, but Justinian used this action to shift his sword into a powerful rifle and fired the first bullet in the chamber. The Ice Queen moved away, but the weapon was fired to prove a point. The hole in the wall behind her was the size of a large golf ball. The Colossus was as powerful and as accurate as a sniper rifle.

Winter gave a flick of her wrist and readied her second sword. This time, when she charged him, she aimed for his sword and disarmed him. When she was done, her blades were crossed over his neck while his hands were on either side of her head.

His devilish grin made a return appearance. "I win."

"I don't see how."

"You know your swords can't hurt me. Now, look at my wrists."

She gave a cursory glance and noticed a small device on either hand. "Okay. I see them."

"Those are flamethrowers. Your blades can't damage me, and last I checked you're not fire proof. To put it in perspective, you can't win. I can. Therefore, you lose."

She knew he was right, but she wouldn't accept it. She would beat him! She had to! For her honor and her name! Her position! A Schnee will not lose to this… degenerate! She will beat him! She decided to swing her swords to slash his throat.

It didn't work. Her swords bounced off and his hands took grab off her head on either side. "I said… you lose."

She knew she couldn't dodge him. However, she was smiling. She created a glyph at her feet. The swarm surrounded them and started to attack her opponent. With the drop in temperature the swarm caused, his fire wouldn't burn. She had him!

She soon found herself looking up at the ceiling. "W-what happened?"

"I beat you. Again." Justinian was standing above her.

"How?"

He held up his arms and showed the devices on his wrists. There was reddish-gold dust in a chamber on either device. "Concussion dust. Released from either side, it knocked you unconscious for about a minute." He held out his hand toward her.

She brushed it aside and stood on her own. "Don't think this is over."

"If you can hold a grudge for four years, you're not about to stop now." He turned to walk away. "It's too bad, though. When we first met, I thought you were beautiful. Now your face is twisted by anger." With that, he left.

\/

 **King: Hello there everybody! First... Happy Thanksgiving. Second... This story passed 2,000 views?! I want to thank you guys. I never thought it would get this far. Yet, here we are.**


	10. Changes

Glynda was panicking. Why, you may ask? Simple. Justinian's experiments have been getting louder and more dangerous. He was going to destroy the whole school by the year's end. The thing is, there was nothing for the past week. Either he passed out, got himself killed, or (Monty forbid) escaped the school grounds. She moved quickly, not angered for once.

She seemed… different to the students. She hasn't yelled as often. She hasn't growled at the students' actions, again, as often. She seemed at peace. But what was different? She as still stern and serious. She was still the scary Professor Goodwitch that the students never wanted to get on her bad side. Her appearance was still prim and proper. Her ear rings and necklace were perfectly normal, if a different color (purple with her symbol etched in). Heck, she added a ring on her left hand with a small green gemstone. The students just couldn't figure it out.

As Glynda quickly walked through the halls to Justinian's lab, she noticed the students, once again, staring at her. She knew they were trying to figure something out about her, but she didn't have time for it. Justinian's silence was too unnerving. She arrived and ripped the door open with her semblance.

This was a mistake. A powerful dust explosion ripped through the door and singed the hallway. She was infuriated again. She entered the lab and looked around. When her feet hit the lab floor, however, she stopped. It was different.

The dust professor popped up from behind his reinforced desk. "Oh! Hello Glynda. What brings you here?"

Glynda spoke with a combination of confusion and irritation. "You had been silent this past week and I wanted to be sure you weren't dead."

"Aw… you do care." He brushed some dirt off his pants and took a seat at his desk.

Glynda's confusion at the situation became anger. "Care to explain?"

"Sure. I reconstructed the room last week. Now it's blast proof, fire proof, sound proof, and doesn't shake the campus when I set off an explosion."

"You can't be serious…"

"Glynda, six days ago I set off a dust canister that was strong enough to dislocate several joints in my body."

 _Oh Monty he is serious._ "How…?"

"Time, money, and a bit of elbow grease. I figured you had enough to worry about now, my experiments shouldn't be one of them."

"You couldn't have done so before?"

Justinian feigned defiance. "I'll have you know this project goes back to day one. It was only recently completed."

"Does Ozpin know about this?"

"He does now."

Glynda raised an eyebrow.

"I told him when it was completed."

"You're supposed to go through proper channels!"

"And it wouldn't be done for a few years if I let anyone else try to design it. I know what I can break, Glynda. So, if I build it to be unbreakable, I can't break it."

She hated to admit it, but if anyone else built it he probably would have been able to break it. All she do here was sigh. "Fine. I'll give you that… Do Peter and Bart know all of this?"

"They, as well as Alexander and Ozpin, were here yesterday for cards."

"Cards?"

"We play a game of cards every week, usually poker." He started to tinker with a dust crystal. "Won this little beauty off of Peter in the process."

"You gamble?"

"Not in the usual way, no. We offer little things to whoever wins the most hands. This time, it was Peter's turn to offer the prize and I won."

"And these prizes are…?"

"Usually little things. Dust crystals, gift certificates, stuff like that. Never much, really. If you're interested, you are allowed to play. It's open to all teachers. Personally, I think we could use a new face at the table. New players bring the prize for their first game, though."

"I think I'll pass."

"Suit yourself. Congratulations, by the way."

Glynda raised an eyebrow. After a moment of thought, and the fact that his devilish grin made a return appearance, "How did you figure it out?"

Justinian raised his left hand and pointed to his ring finger. "It's an easy guess when you're wearing the evidence. So, when is it going down?"

Glynda sighed. "After the school year."

"That makes sense." He looked to the clock on the wall. "Look at the time. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to proctor a detention." He grabbed his sword and the box of tech and left the room. "Lock the door on your way out."

As Glynda walked back down the halls, she found herself face to face with Celia Peach. "Hello, Glynda!"

"Hello, Celia."

"How about a cup of coffee. It's been so long since we talked and you've been so stressed recently."

"Sorry. My work day is rather full for a while. Give my cup to Alexander."

"Oh, okay." With that, the blacksmith walked away and allowed Glynda to go about her day.

\/

The rest of Glynda's day went by without anything happening. There was something about team CRDL screaming bloody murder in the hallways. But when she looked up the team, she realized they were the team subject to detention with Justinian. _That explains far more than it should._ She returned to her work and the day just flew by. She just stood up from her desk and started to roam the halls. By this point, she knew that something was going to happen and she wanted to make sure it didn't.

So far, nothing out of the ordinary. She only had to berate one team for their actions, so technically it was a slow day. Though she soon had to keep Ms. Valkyrie from breaking someone's legs, but that too had become routine. She soon found herself back at Ozpin's office to file the report for the day.

"Professor Ozpin?"

The headmaster of Beacon was reviewing some files on his desk at the time. "Hello Glynda. Come in. I'll be done in a moment."

Glynda walked up and patiently waited for him to complete his work. When he had, she reported any relevant information from the day, including Justinian's modifications to his lab.

"Really should have done that sooner…" Ozpin took a sip of his coffee. "Anything else?"

"No, sir. Nothing else to report."

"That's good." He stood up and refilled his mug. He also grabbed a second mug and passed it to Glynda.

\/

"What's going on in there?" Celia, Peter, Bart, and Alexander were outside the door looking in. They were curious about the way Glynda had been acting and were shadowing her for most of the day.

Bart was confused by the situation in the office. "He shared his coffee. He never shares his coffee."

"Quite. Very odd." Peter raised an eyebrow.

Alexander leaned over his wife's shoulder. "It is weird."

"Is it?" The group turned to Justinian who walked by. "Alexander, when did you and Celia first share a walk in your garden?"

Alexander knew which garden he was talking about. It was his personal flower garden and he considered it his personal space. He thought back to when he first let his wife walk through it. "When we got engaged."

After that, Justinian just walked away.

\/

 **King: Hello there everybody! Sorry this took so long. Just trying to figure out what I was going to do. Well, here it is and I hope you all enjoy.**


	11. Holiday with the Torchwicks

A nice quiet day.

 **(King: No, really.)**

They were few and far between, but they did exist. Today being one such day. With the holiday season in full swing in Vale, the students and teachers of Beacon all got a few days off to enjoy themselves and the company of friends and family. Port left the campus to spend time at home. Bart decided to do the same and stay with his father for his vacation. Alexander and Celia Peach took a trip to spend time together. Ozpin remained on campus, as per his responsibility to ensure the school remains operational at all times. Glynda stayed by his side the whole time to help him with his work.

What of Justinian, you ask? Well, he was… visiting family.

\/

Neo was sitting eating ice cream, watching the two Torchwick brothers sitting opposite each other occasionally sipping from their own mugs. This continued for about ten minutes without either brother saying a word. Neo just kept eating her ice cream with a little irritation. _Just say something already!_

After a while, Roman cleared his throat. "So… what brings you to my little warehouse?"

Constantine took another sip from his mug before answering. "I'm not allowed to visit my little brother and his girlfriend?"

"That psycho's not my girlfriend and you know it."

Neo was already trying to stab Constantine. To no avail, as usual. So, she disgruntledly retook her seat and shot a glance of _your next_ toward Roman.

"I know. Doesn't mean I can't taunt you."

"Isn't the _older_ brother supposed to do the taunting about the _younger_ brother's female friends?"

"Normally… but we are far from normal, Roman."

"I'll drink to that." He raise his mug toward his brother.

"Then, may we never be normal, standard, or dull." The two toasted and drank from their mugs in unison.

Neo watched the two. They didn't actually get along, but they still seemed civil. They also looked fairly similar. Although, Neo would admit that Constantine had a very different aura about him. He seemed genuinely handsome, where Roman came across as smug and over-confident. _Weird…_

Her attention was caught when Constantine stuck a knife a few inches into the table. She reached for her weapon, only for Roman to stick a similar knife into the table on his side. Now she had to know what was going on. She started by examining the knives. They were both single-edge, straight blade knives. Roman's had a gold handle with an orange gemstone on the pommel, giving it an air of regality. Constantine's was a more savage. It was a toothed blade with a black-metal hilt and pommel wrapped in a red cloth. The blade even seemed stained with blood. Neo looked between the brothers. She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but she had a front row seat.

Constantine took the knife from the table and sheathed it, sliding it toward Roman. His brother did the same.

 _A gift exchange?_

Constantine noticed Neo's confusion. "I'll explain. These knives were owned by our parents. Ever since the funeral, every year we exchange them between each other. I know, it's stupid… but sometimes, it just feels like mom and dad are still here."

"I just go along with it so Constantine feels better."

"Memory serves, this was your idea. And last year, you almost broke when I said I might be late."

Roman was flustered. "Shut up!"

Neo couldn't help but laugh. Seriously, though, this was just weird. Whenever Constantine was around, Roman seemed to become an entirely different person. He wasn't smug. He didn't try to crack jokes. _What kind of power did Constantine have? I must know!_

An idea popped into Neo's mind. A fiendish idea… It was evil. It was diabolical. It was lemon scented! Okay… it wasn't actually lemon scented. But if she played her cards right… _No, Neo! Not the time!_ Neo smiled and held her scroll out toward Constantine. [ **Why don't you tell me more about it over dinner some time?]**

It was Roman's turn to laugh. "Looks like the psycho wants to date little bro!" He continued to laugh for a solid three minutes before anyone else spoke.

Constantine never broke in his demeanor. "Nice try, Neo. You just want dirt on Roman."

The older Torchwick stopped almost immediately. "Wait, what?"

Neo puffed out one cheek. _Was it that obvious?_

Constantine smiled. "Information isn't cheap, you know. So, you can pick up the tab."

 _What?_ She grabbed her scroll and typed out something quickly. [ **Two things: 1) doesn't the guy usually pay?]**

"Most girls can't kill a man with the flick of a wrist."

[ **Fair enough… and 2) Does this mean we're actually going out?]**

Constantine had a devilish grin across his face. "I thought you were just looking for information…"

[ **I meant to dinner!]**

Constantine laughed. "I know what you meant. Sounds like a plan. Just let me know when. After all, if you're paying, you get to pick the place. That said…" He looked at his scroll. "It seems I need to leave." He stood up and started to walk away. As he did, he raised one hand and waved. "See you then."

\/

As Constantine walked down the street, he felt that someone was following him. He made several turns and moved in unpredictable patterns to change this. It didn't quite work. The feeling was still there. Someone was watching… He moved back toward the warehouse district while always staying ahead of where someone would be able to sneak up on him. He knew, whoever it was, was somewhat skilled. After all, he couldn't tell much else.

He arrived and found an actual, abandoned warehouse. He waited inside. Nowhere to hide. He wanted to confront his stalker. He knew it wasn't Roman. His brother took time off from crime during the holidays. Neo's best chance to kill him would be the date. Team RWBY wasn't this skilled. Whoever this was, it wasn't someone he knew.

He found himself face to face with what looked like a member of the White Fang. He was carrying a large chainsaw and looked as menacing as his weapon. "So, are you ready to die, human?"

Constantine just smiled. "Do we really have to do this? It's the holidays. You know… good will towards your fellow man and all that." Constantine ducked a swipe of the chainsaw and jumped back. "Guess I don't have a choice…" Constantine reached both arms forward and, with a flick of his wrists, his flamethrower bracers became full gauntlets. "Let's dance."

The large White Fang lieutenant swung his blade downward at Constantine. "Die! Human scum!"

The young Torchwick blocked the attack with his gauntlets. "I think I'll take a rain check on that." His gauntlets erupted in fire and pushed the lieutenant back. "What's wrong? I'm just getting warmed up!" He punched the ground and a wave of flames flew outward and burned the lieutenant.

"Damn it! I won't lose to a human!"

"Too bad…" He reeled back his fist and delivered a strong, fire powered punch straight to the lieutenant's jaw, knocking him out cold. Constantine stood there, waiting to ensure his opponent was down for the count. After a few minutes he sighed. _There's no way this was the guy following me… Though, that's not important. The real question is, where am I going to get a decent suit? Oh well. I'll deal with that when the time comes._

\/

 **King: A bit of holiday fun. Well... part one. In the coming weeks, I plan to release more as a special for the other teachers. Look forward to it.**


	12. Expedition

Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck; huntsman, professor, and historian, was sitting in the Beacon Academy library. He was researching various texts for a paper on the lives of the ancient peoples of Remnant. That said, he found himself at a road block. Within more than a handful of texts, there is a blank in the timeline. A section of history was missing from the archives. He tried every text he could find, but there was no record of the era.

"Very strange." Bart stood and returned the books to the shelves. "I must find something to fill in this gap. I think an expedition is in order."

\/

As the bullhead landed, Oobleck stepped out of the ship and took a deep breath. "Ah… the smell of discovery and the forgotten. Soon, we shall be the discoverers of a piece of history that had been blank for too long."

"I don't see why we need to be here, though." The blonde brawler from team RWBY stepped out of the ship. Yang had her arms crossed. "This isn't a mission and you didn't really give us much of a choice." Standing beside her were Sun Wukong, Ruby Rose, and Blake Belladonna.

Ruby smiled. "Oh come on, sis. This could be fun."

"It would be nice to know why we were selected to be here." Blake added. "Weiss isn't here with us. So there must be a reason we are."

"There is." Oobleck took a sip from his thermos. "You four show the least interest in my class."

"What about Cardin?"

"Mr. Winchester is too far gone to respect this expedition. I picked you four because you have the least interest while having the greatest possibility to change that."

Sun stretched his arms toward the sky. "So, teach, what are we doing?"

"For now, we move to a base camp to the north. From there, we move to find an ancient crypt that has not been seen since it was sealed away thousands of years ago."

Sun gave an impressed whistle. "That long?"

"Yes. There is a blank in the historical records."

"You couldn't just check another library?" Yang did not enjoy having to be dragged out to the middle of nowhere. She enjoyed a good adventure, but on her own terms.

"I did. I checked every library, every archive. Nothing. The era is blank and forgotten. So, we are here to discover something that no one else has ever seen. By discovering this missing history, we'll be making some of our own."

Yang had to admit, that did sound cool. "Okay. After you, prof."

"It's doctor."

\/

After setting up a base camp, the group searched the surrounding area until the sun started to set. They had found nothing. No ruins. No ancient tools. No sign that the area was ever inhabited. They sat down to rest and enjoy a meal, if you could call it that. It was simplistic: bread, cheese, beans, and water. That said, it wasn't horrible. Just… simple and a bit bland.

Yang yawned and stretched. "I'm starting to think that there is no history to be made."

"What do you mean?" Ruby spoke while taking a bite from her bread.

"There's no record of this stuff ad we don't really know what we're looking for."

"I will admit…" Blake chimed in, "…it isn't much to go off of."

"Exactly!" Yang took a bite from her bread. "And besides that, it didn't look like anything lived here… ever."

Ruby looked down at her meal. "I guess…" She was disappointed. She wanted to see whatever it was they were looking for. After all, how often do you get to see something no one else has?

The sun finally set and the group sat around the camp fire. Blake looked around at the team. "I'll take the first watch."

"'Kay." Yang lied down on her sleeping bag. "I could use some sleep."

As her group drifted off, Blake took up a position overlooking the area and observed her surroundings. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Although, the longer she looked, the more there was something off… It almost seemed like there was something they missed.

She raised an eyebrow and moved to a higher position. She found a tree and climbed as high as could. When she reached the top, she looked down on the area and was awestruck. They hadn't missed it. They were standing in it!

Below her was a large structure. The stones they believed to be part of the landscape were deliberately arranged. They were sleeping right next to exactly what they were looking for! Maybe… _Whatever. We'll figure that out once they know._ Once she returned to the ground, she moved to wake her group and explained what she had seen.

"Incredible!" Oobleck looked over the stones again. "How could I have missed this? The structure is so simple as to be understated, but it seems so obvious now!"

"So, how do we get in?" Sun asked.

"I'm not sure. There doesn't seem to be a way in from here…"

Yang cracked her knuckles. "I can fix that."

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

The whole group jumped. It was rare that Doctor Oobleck raised his voice to that level, let alone yell at a student with an undertone of a threat.

"This is a historic sight. We must preserve it as is. Now," he turned his attention back to the structure, "how do we get in?"

After putting on a pair of gloves, Oobleck moved his hands along the outside of the structure until he found a small indent. "What have we here?" He moved his hands along the indent, tracing a small arc. A torrent of steam shot out from the structure. A section of the stones moved and a doorway opened, allowing them entry.

The group was speechless. Except for Ruby. "How did you know that would work?"

"Because there was a similar system on a crypt that predates this one. Although, the steam is new. Steam was used in structures after the blank era." Oobleck smiled. "We found it."

\/

As they walked through the structure, the group looked around in awe. Though, 'awe' might be too weak a word for Oobleck. He had found a piece of history no one had seen. He could start to fill in the blanks in Remnant's chronology. He was positively ecstatic. He would even go so far as to say he was experiencing pure bliss. His group was more subdued. That said, Ruby was excitedly looking around like a smile child in a theme park. Sun and Yang were talking about how cool it was that they were making history. Blake remained stoic, but she had to admit that it was pretty awesome.

The structure's walls were covered in some kind of drawings. They depicted what looked like armored knights and creatures of Grimm locked in combat. There was one picture that showed one of the knights decapitated by a Grimm while the warrior's sword had pierced the Grimm's mask between its eyes. Various other pictures showed similar scenes.

"Interesting. It seems like the inhabitances were enamored with warriors in armor. Perhaps their versions of huntsmen…"

As they walked, the drawings continued throughout the structure. They found themselves traveling through a handful of rooms. They were all empty, likely the contents having decomposed, but there were still some clues. One seemed like a sort of cafeteria. Another had the tell-tale signs of sleeping quarters. There wasn't much, but enough to try to guess.

It was when they reached the room farthest back that Oobleck was overtaken with joy. Standing in the room were the full suits of armor as well as a small arsenal of swords, spears, shields, axes, and even a few rudimentary dust-propulsion muskets. "Incredible! Everything seems perfectly intact! This is a major find!"

Yang gave an impressed whistle. "Pretty cool."

Ruby looked around. "I don't know why… but I have a bad feeling about this place."

"I half expected Blake to say that."

Blake rolled her eyes and started to look around.

Sun was looking over the armor. "It's so dusty."

"Naturally." Oobleck handed the group a pair of gloves and a small brush. "Use these if you must interact. However, keep touching to a minimum. Use the brushes to remove any excess dust."

Ruby put on her gloves and moved toward the weapons. They were all old fashioned and in great shape for being so old. It probably helped that they seemed to be made entirely of metal. Yang followed her sister and looked over her shoulder almost the entire time.

Blake and Sun looked over the armor for a while. At one point, Sun's attention was caught by something. He looked at the chest piece of one of the armor suits and focused. Something was underneath all that dust. He used the brush to remove the dust. He wanted to know what was beneath.

"Holy…" Sun stopped his motion and turned back to the group. "You guys… might want to see this."

As they gathered around him, they were surprised by what he had found. On the armor was a symbol. It was a set of two parallel arcs, like the symbol used by one Jaune Arc.

Yang broke the silence. "I guess that 'family of warriors' thing goes back farther than he realized."

They became silent again. Blake's ears perked at a strange sound. "Something is here."

They all stopped and listened. There was a strange air about the room. That was when they heard it. "You… should… not… be… here." It was a whisper. It was like the wind itself was speaking to them.

Oobleck looked around. "Who are you? If you're trying to scare us away from this sight, you are mistaken."

"I… am… Arc."

"Arc?"

The group looked between one another. They all had the same look. _What's happening?_

"Yes… I… am… Arc. You… are… trespassing."

"What is this place?"

"Old… hall… of… Arc. You… are… not… Arc."

"I must ask, how old is this structure?"

"Why… should… I… say?"

"I am a researcher. I merely wish to fill in a blank in Remnant's history."

The voice was silent. "Admirable… mission. I… shall… tell… you."

"Thank you."

The voice explained that the structure was an Arc clan barrack. It was used as an outpost for the family during a time of war. The time was an age that would put the Faunas War to shame. Stories of heroes and villains. Men and women fighting on the frontlines against humans, faunas, and even monsters. The voice told them about the final hours of the war when the Arc forces pushed back their enemy to the brink, only to be betrayed by their allies and forced into retreat. The voice told them about the weapons, all created by the Arc, and the armor made of a metal more powerful and lighter than all others at the time. He said it was given the name 'titanium.' He spoke of the early dust muskets and how they cut through all others. He told them about the tradition of the Arc warriors and weapon smiths.

As the voice ended its tale, it took a deep breath. "Now… you… must… leave. Allow… my… brothers… to… sleep."

"Of course. Thank you. May I ask you for your name?"

"I… am… William… Arc."

With that, the voice faded and the group left the structure. As they emerged, the sun blinded them a moment. The doorway closed behind them and it seemed as though nothing had happened.

As the group returned to their camp site; Sun, Yang, and Ruby couldn't stop talking about what they learned from the voice. Blake would chime in and kept her attention on the conversation.

\/

Oobleck had finished writing in his journal when Peter walked in. "Bart! It's good to see you, again. I take it your expedition was a success."

"It was." He closed the journal, "and then some."

/\

 **King: We're back. A writer's block has kept me away, but I have returned. For now... Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	13. What your Teachers do for Valentine's

Valentine's day… it rears its ugly head every year. The Peaches were always together, but still always inadvertently flaunted what they had. Peter and Bart always left the campus to visit old friends and possibly have a drink. Glynda would have previously just gone about the day as usual. Now? She had a date with Ozpin. The other teachers all had their plans. Well… all but one.

Justinian never cared about the holiday. Never really got the idea. He was the type that never paid too much attention to… anything, really. That's not totally true, though. He focused on his work as though his life depended on it (and, in many ways, it did). He never took the time to care about the idea of relationships. And he wasn't about to start now.

That said, he did have plans for the day. A day of torment. He wanted to stop by Roman's and try his damnedest to make Roman's day as annoying as possible. At least… that was the plan. Roman, apparently, was out of town and his warehouse was empty. Justinian/Constantine could only sigh.

"Well, there goes that plan."

Justinian walked back to the airport and hopped a bullhead back to Beacon looking positively defeated. When he got back, it was about 11:30. He still had half the day to go and no one to torture. He'd run out of dust to experiment on and you can't play cards with yourself. Okay… You can, but 12 hours of solitaire to get to you after a while. Justinian resigned himself to the boredom to come.

Thankfully, it was about to get a little more exiting. The problem is how it would do so. He found Jaune Arc outside his office.

"Can I help you mister Arc?"

"Um… actually, I need advice."

"Relationship?"

"Kinda…"

"You wanted to ask Alexander?"

"Yeah…"

Justinian could only sigh. "He's out with Celia, but I'm guessing you figured that out already."

"Yeah…"

"So, why are you outside _my_ office?"

"I do still need advice."

"I get that. So why my office? I made it no secret that I don't and have had a girlfriend. Asking anyone else would make more sense. Don't you think?"

"Sorry. It's just…"

Justinian let out a defeated sigh. "I'm the only one left… aren't I?"

"Pretty much."

"Crap. Alright. Come in. I'll see what I can do."

Justinian spent an hour listening to Jaune's ramblings about how we might not be worthy of his love interest. He never dropped a name, but Justinian knew about the Arc boy's infatuation with Weiss Schnee and his attempts to woo her before the dance. Justinian told the young student that he needed to have more faith in himself. That, if he really tried, it could work out. Jaune left the room with his head held higher than normal. Far from truly confident, but it was a start.

\/

Peter Port. Huntsman. Teacher. Inspiration. Port was doing what he always did for Valentine's. He was visiting his old friends from his school days. He would tell said friends stories about his exploits as a huntsman. They would then promptly buy him a drink to see if it could be the key to making him stop. To their credit, it did work. Just… not for a while. He stopped telling stories and started to tell tales. Apparently, his stories could get even more ridiculous. All it took was some alcohol. Peter spent his day with friends and doesn't remember a good chunk of it.

\/

Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck as spending his Valentine's Day with his one, true love; history. He reviewed old texts and tomes of times that many had forgotten. Eras that he knew like the back of his hand. Dr. Oobleck was the definition of a history buff and he wouldn't have it another way. That said, he wasn't exactly alone. His old friend Samantha Groen was there to help in his studies.

Oddly, the two were rather similar, just in different fields. Where Bart focused on the past, Sam was very much in the now. She is a seeker of excitement and is the type to always try something new. Although, she tends to regret this from time to time. Like that one type with the green ham. She spent the day in bed due to food poisoning. Although, Bart did take care of her. So… there was a silver lining in her eyes.

She always liked Bart, but she knew that she couldn't compare to history in his eyes. The two grew apart over time. She hadn't seen him in a while, so imagine her surprise when he asked her to spend Valentine's together. Now, imagine her when she found out it was for research. She wasn't exactly ecstatic, but she kind of saw it coming. And it was like this that the day passed by.

\/

Glynda hadn't been on a date for quite a while. Yes, she had been dates before. No, you can't know how long it's been. She decided to go all out for this. A full purple dress, a pair of tasteful heels, her usual jewelry, and even a slight change in her hair style. She was ready for her date with Ozpin.

Ozpin's preparations were a little more subdued. After all, he always wore a suit. To be fair, though, he had swapped his scarf for a green tie. He never liked ties but, for Glynda, he would put up with the noose. He collected himself and took a deep breath. _Okay, Ozpin. It's time._

The two met at a nearby restaurant. Ozpin was speechless upon seeing Glynda but quickly gathered himself. To him, she was beautiful. The fact that the dress further accented her curves, he's lucky he didn't pass out. He held his arm out toward her. "Shall we?"

"Let's." Glynda wrapped her arms around his and the two walked into the establishment.

Their meal was relatively light and the two quickly finished their meals and paid. But the two weren't done. They made their way to a park of Ozpin's choosing. When they arrived, they sat at bench overlooking the park. It was starting to get dark.

"Why come all the way out here, Ozpin?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Well… no. But it's getting dark soon and…"

"Glynda. We're trained hunters. I think we can handle anything that might try something."

"I suppose. But I still feel that we should be getting back."

"We will. But first, I have something to show you." He waved his hand behind him.

Glynda looked at what he was gesturing toward and was stunned. The city was a cavalcade of color and lights as the natural light started to recede. "It's…"

"It's quite something isn't it?"

"Yes. It is. But why go all this way to show me this?"

Ozpin smiled and his eyes started to glow a slight green. The scene before them changed. The lights became a combination of emerald green and a brilliant purple.

Glynda was speechless "How… how did…?"

"We are getting married when this term is over. So, I thought I should show you my semblance."

"You did that?"

"Yes. I am the man behind the curtain. My power allows me to manipulate the sight of others."

A sickening feeling came over Glynda. She needed to know something. And she knew she might not like the answer. "Have you ever used this on us?"

Ozpin paused before taking a deep breath. "No. I do what I can without using this ability."

That helped ease Glynda's heart. She smiled and leaned into his shoulder. "It is beautiful, though."

\/

Justinian walked through the hallways. Valentine's Day was still here. It was starting to get dark and Ozpin and Glynda had yet to return. Peter wouldn't be back until he recovered from his evening and Bart would be studying for as long as possible. Who knows where Alexander and Celia were? Although, a part of him didn't want to know. As he walked into the cafeteria for dinner, he saw only a handful of students. _Probably out on dates._ He saw team CRDL ( _Big surprise. Those four will never find girlfriends the way they act_ ) as well as a few other students. Though, they weren't necessarily in their teams. Weiss Schnee was with Neptune Vasilias. Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong were enjoying each other's company. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie were side-by-side and conversing. Nora constantly went on and on about who knows what, she talked very quickly… Ren just sat there and listened to it all. They were clearly close, but there was something about them. A certain… je ne sais quoi. _'_ _Not together-together,' huh?_ Beside them was Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos. Justinian stopped at how close they were. _No way…_ He found that they were holding hands under the table. Interlocking fingers and everything! _Not bad, kid. Not bad._ The only two left were Ruby Rose (the running joke being that she's in a loving relationship with her weapon) and her sister Yang Xiao Long (who could get anyone she wanted, but is the type that wants to make the effort).

Justinian walked passed them and got his food. _Another Valentine's, another year of boredom._ He was going to chalk up the day as uneventful. That was, until he got a message on his scroll.

 **[You still owe me dinner.]**

/\

 **King: This is the last special for the stories that are in-progress. Hope you enjoyed it. I plan to release the Valentine's one-shot on the day in question. Look forward to it.**


End file.
